The lesson’s focus was on assemblage art with found objects and cast-off materials. We looked at the work of Louise Nevelson, an American sculptor (emigrated from Russia when she was three years old) known for her monumental, monochromatic, wooden wall pieces and outdoor sculptures.

The students focused on making something out of what would generally be considered nothing — taking what most people view as useless and arranging it in an artistic manner, elevating it from junk to art. Nevelson’s art appears puzzle-like — we encouraged the students to discover ways to layer the objects, create patterns and incorporate a variety of textures to create a unique composition.

Each piece was spray painted a monochromatic black or white (the students chose which color).

All the materials were donated from students. The kids had a great time going through the boxes and bags of materials to make choices for their pieces.

This was an art project that also had a lot to do with science. We planned to make sunprints, and lucky for us, there was **SUN** !

By the way, we did have a backup Seattle plan; sunprints can be made in cloudy weather, they just take much longer! We talked about these experiments as photographs–a word which means, literally: writing with light. We’ll be studying more about photography later this year, and will remind students about their experience with a light-sensitive surface.

We are planning to construct a quilt-like grid of the final pieces, so that it looks like a starry sky. The project was inspired, in part, by the work of artist Danielle Rante.